Five Years Later, Gulf Coast Reflections – Part Three
Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Gulfport, MississippiIt's hard to say what the real ground zero of Hurricane Katrina was. For most Americans, they think of the City of New Orleans. They remember the raw and emotionally powerful images of...
DetailsFive Years Later, Gulf Coast Reflections – Part Two
Plaquemines ParishOther than cruising along a major piece of highway, there are few places that you can drive in America where you can go 50+ miles and not hit a traffic light. Such is the stretch of highway along...
DetailsFive Years Later, Gulf Coast Reflections – Part One
Five years ago, my life, like the lives of millions of others, changed. I was one of the thousands of people who went to the Gulf Coast to try to help, to do anything to address what can only...
DetailsA Mosque of a Mess – Absence of Candor at Ground Zero
Twenty years ago, I graduated from college as a double major in political science and religion. When asked by family and friends what I intended to do with those degrees, I explained that I wasn’t quite sure, but...
DetailsTed Stevens, Sean O’Keefe and a Powerful Gesture
Yesterday's sad news from Alaska about the tragic plane crash that killed former Senator Ted Stevens and four others, and seriously injured former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, his son and two others, brought to mind a chance encounter I...
DetailsRaising Caps, Killing Industry and Holding America Hostage
First off, let me state for the record that I am not taking a page out of the Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) book of apologies. I may have said some humdingers in the past, but I am not about...
DetailsFEMA’s Steps in the Right Direction
As the country celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it presents an opportunity to see how far we have come since the enactment of one of our country's great civil rights laws, but it...
DetailsLip Service and the National Infrastructure Bank
In 2008, when the then Obama Campaign issued its proposed vision for homeland security, it impressed a lot of people when it described the creation of a national infrastructure bank. This federally chartered structure would fund critical projects around...
DetailsSecrets in the News: Classified Crossings that Go Too Far
For the second straight week, Washington, DC and the nation are reeling from headlines and news coverage of events on the national security stage. Last week, it was the Washington Post's series on Top Secret America, which details the...
DetailsThe Disturbing Value of the Washington Post’s Work
There is always something in the media that captures the conversation of people in Washington, whether it is some unfortunate gaffe that a political figure makes, some new gossip about a government official’s missteps, or the latest poll numbers...
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